Inigo Montoya: But this is Gordon Henry’s true love – If you heal her, he will aggravate alphas.Miracle Max: Wait. Wait. I make him better, alphas type angry denunciations to an admiring bog?Inigo Montoya: Humiliations galore!Miracle Max: That is a noble cause. Give me the sixty-five, I’m on the job.

People say the world would be a better place if the government allowed people to buy and sell kidneys. But if that were the case, this woman wouldn’t have been in such a desperate situation, and this man wouldn’t have been able to rekindle their love through his act of self-sacrifice. Sure, a market for kidneys would save countless lives, but what is life without love?

funny how the pie in the sky by and by romantics think this is successful signaling by the betaboy. folks, the woman has an extra 20 years on her caboose. that’s not a win for him, even without the self-mutilation.

There is certainly a squick factor, but having gotten a kidney donated from a non relative, I think the recipient can live with it.

In my case when the crunch came the first person who came forward was an emotionally needy long time friend who frankly terrified me thinking about the future after the transplant, but I was literally dying so I was, and still am very grateful. Luckily he was medically disqualified by conditions caused by the same personality traits that worried me, but his example had encouraged a lot of other friends and even just acquaintances to step forward. My eventual donor actually admitted to me that if the first donor hadn’t stepped forward she probably wouldn’t have.

One of the nice parts of a monetary transaction is the emotional distance it creates. It is easy to have scruples when it is someone else’s life. I actually told this to a former family friend who was an “ethicist” and she actually told me that this was why we shouldn’t allow live donors. I consider a mark of my refinement that we finished dinner in a civil manner. She hasn’t darkened my door since.